Advocate Resources

Welcome to the Big Country CASA’s Advocate Resources page. This page serves as a working list of different national and community resources, in-service training options, and a link to our online database. Please contact us if you have questions or know of a resource you think might be useful to add to this page.

CAMPS FOR CHILDREN

IN-SERVICE TRAININGS

STRESS, TRAUMA & ADVERSE CHILD EXPERIENCES

Texas Victim Assistance Training (TVAT) – This training will provide the necessary tools for providing consistent and appropriate services to crime victims and how to work collaboratively with partner agencies.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Safety Training – Read up on how to help prevent cyberbullying, sexting and other types of risky online behavior in children and teens. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has provided a website to help educate adults and children on these risks. You may count research as continuing education credit.

TBRI Introductory Training– TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI® is connection.

TBRI An Overview: Putting the Pieces Together – This short video explains the principles and concepts behind Trust-Based Relational Intervention®, a proven method for enriching the lives of at-risk, vulnerable children, adolescents, and their families. Trauma can impair language, sensory processing, and coping skills, and can lead to perplexing behaviors that are often mistaken for aggression or mental illness. This video features world-renowned experts who share research that documents how consistently positive experiences with loving caregivers can re-wire a child’s brain for lasting change. Learn more at http://child.tcu.edu.

DFPS Psychotropic Medication Training – This training explains Child Protective Services’ expectations for the safe and effective use of psychotropic medications by children in DFPS conservatorship. This training will help you to understand the expectations and policies regarding medications administered to children.

EDUCATION on Disabilities

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Be The One – Human trafficking is a media buzzword that often conjures images of brothels in Thailand or confusion with the ongoing immigration debate. This innovative digital training tool cuts through the confusion, arms the viewer with an understanding of what human trafficking is and is not and helps them recognize that this is a Texas problem with Texas buyers, sellers, and victims. Most of all, it challenges Texans to change the culture in which we live from one that identifies with and honors perpetrators to one that provides safety, security, and genuine reintegration for the survivors of trafficking.

FOSTER CARE

Podcast: Engaging Youth in Foster Care – As the youth in care begin to develop their own sense of self and independence, you may experience difficulty engaging them to participate in their case plans or helping them realize the impacts their decisions may have on their long-term future.

ADOPTION / FOSTER CARE

Foster Care: Additional Actions Could Help HHS Better Support States’ Use of Private Providers to Recruit and Retain Foster Families: Highlights of GAO-18-376, a Report to Congressional Requesters.GAO Highlights ; Highlights of GAO-18-376
United States Government Accountability Office.
2018https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/692107.pdf

"YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE SUPERPOWERS TO BE A SUPERHERO!"

About Big Country CASA

Our Mission

Big Country CASA advocates for the best interest of abused and neglected children in the court system through trained community volunteers.

Our History

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a national volunteer movement founded in 1977. Big Country CASA is a member of the National and Texas CASA Associations. There are more than 1,000 CASA programs nationwide and 71 CASA programs in the state of Texas.